New Milford hospital to reduce 11 nursing positions without layoffs

Published 1:00 am, Thursday, March 12, 2009

Nurses and officials at New Milford Hospital are trying to figure out how to reduce nursing positions without layoffs.

The hospital and union leaders announced Tuesday that 11 nursing positions will be lost as part of a hospital-wide reduction.

"My hope is that no one loses their job at New Milford Hospital,"
Robert Sommer
, vice president of human resources, said about the latest reduction plans.

Hospital leaders last week announced 15 immediate layoffs -- none of them nurses -- as part of an overall plan to reduce its 700-employee staff by 7 percent through attrition, consolidation of services and layoffs.

Related Stories

The 11 nursing jobs are on top of the 15 layoffs last week. The hospital's low patient census and the closing of its emergency angioplasty program are behind the new cuts.

Nurses were officially notified Monday that the intensive care unit will now be regularly staffed for six patients rather than eight -- one nurse for every two patients -- and the third-floor medical/surgical unit will be staffed for 20 patients rather than 24.

The first three months of the year that unit averaged 18 patients a day, while it can accommodate 28.

When the hospital's emergency angioplasty program closes May 4, its diagnostic cardiac catheterization laboratory is expected to become part-time, unless patient volume is so low it also must be closed. That program now employs three nurses.

The nursing union was given several options to deal with the loss of positions, said
Joanne Chapin
, the nurses' union president.

Based on seniority, nurses whose jobs are being eliminated can transfer to other nursing shifts, switch to part-time work if available, or accept floating positions with cancellable hours.

Nurses who accept floating positions will be part of a four-week schedule -- and retain benefits -- but when they are not needed, their hours will be cancelled so they may not get a steady paycheck.

The hospital will also begin relying far less on per-diem nurses, because it would prefer to have scheduled workers whose hours they can cancel, rather than have to call in nurses when need suddenly escalates, officials said.

Of the hospital's 180 nurses, 60 work on a per-diem basis.

The last resort, barring all other options, is for the least-senior nurses to accept a layoff with a severance package, generally one-week's salary for each year of service, official said.

"This (process) starts a whole cascading effect," Mrs. Chapin said.

News of possible nursing layoffs trickled through the hospital last week, but became official Monday.

"This has been a very tough two weeks,'' Mrs. Chapin said, "and it's still evolving.''

"These are good people. They are competent nurses," Mr. Sommer said. "They didn't do anything to cause these things, and to the best of my ability I want to see that they are not hurt by it.''

Morale is low because the nurses are a close-knit group, and none wants to see a colleague lose a job, Mrs. Chapin said. Yet many veteran nurses cannot afford to lose their established schedules and work hours.

Mr. Sommer and Mrs. Chapin said they remain confident the hospital will always provide quality care.